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Monday, June 29, 2015

Secret
Worlds is a HUGE boxed set ebook collection for lovers of dark
fantasy and paranormal romance from twenty-one popular authors of the
genre, including Catherine Stine, a member of Untethered Realms.

For
a limited time, enjoy books from today's USA Today, Amazon
Bestselling and award-winning authors, including titles slated for
the big screen. When purchased separately, these books cost over $50.
But they are yours today for less than $1.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Video game geek Josh Hanson never gets noticed by
women until a gorgeous booth babe drags him into a dark room for a
quickie.

She doesn't give him her name, and her face is
covered by a silver mask. Josh is determined to find the dark-haired
beauty again, but communication isn't easy in a huge hall filled with
nerds. When they end up playing in a tournament later, the games
extend into her hotel room. Josh wants more than just a con fling,
but she's not easy to catch. Can he figure out how to beat her games
and become her champion?

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped promote the Dice & Debauchery series. Your support and encouragement means a lot to me.

This is the final book in my geeky trilogy. It was also the most difficult one to write because it's from the guy's point of view. I asked my male friends a lot of questions and received many weird looks. You'd think they'd be use to me doing so by now!

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The first one to split from the group is almost always the first to
die.

2. Phones are bad.

They never work when you want them to, and when they do work, it’s
usually a way for the killer to get you right where he wants you.

3. Never look back.

Run, run, run and never, ever look back. You’re more likely to trip
and die, if you do look back.

4. Off with its head!

There aren’t too many monsters out there, except hydras, that can
live or grow stronger without their heads. So chop away!

5. Don’t live in small towns, forests, or near cornfields.

They’re crawling with monsters and aliens.

6. Don’t laugh at guys with chainsaws.

This one is from personal experience. No one likes to be laughed at,
and it’s more dangerous to do so when the person has a chainsaw.

7. Romance will get you killed.

Whether it’s a one night stand or a romantic tryst with your beau,
it’s better to be single in a horror story. Romance (or sex) clouds
your judgment and makes you great monster bait.

What’s your favorite tip on surviving a horror story?

A monster hunts us. After hibernating for a decade, it’s ravenous.
We long to stop this nightmare, but the end of the road is far. There
is no waking up once a legend sets its sights on you.

Disappearances every ten or so years make little impact on the small
town of New Haven, Virginia. Hikers get lost. Hunters lose the trail.
Even when a body is discovered, the inhabitants’ memories last
about as long as the newspaper articles.

No one connects the cases. No one notices the disappearances go back
beyond Civil War times. No one believes a legendary monster roams the
forests in Southwestern Virginia.

I don’t either until the truck breaks down on an old mountain
trail. Cell phones won’t work in this neck of the woods. It’s
amazing how much a person can see by starlight alone. So what if we
can’t feel our fingers or toes as we hike toward the main road. How
many more miles left to go?

Crrraaack!

Hear that noise?

Purchase Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection by Cherie Reich
at Amazon.
From June 22-28, the collection is only $0.99!

Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction author and library assistant
living in Virginia. Visit her website
and blog
for more information.

Monday, June 22, 2015

I'm so pleased to help the awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh spread the word about CassaSeries. All his fantastic space opera novels in one boxed set. This is a must read for all sci-fi and speculative fiction fans.

CassaStar - Few options remain for
Byron. Slated to train as a Cosbolt pilot, Byron is determined to prove his
worth to his instructor, Bassa. As war brews on the edge of space, Bassa must
make a decision that could decide the fate of both men. Will their skills be
enough as they embark on a mission destined to stretch their abilities to the
limit?

CassaFire - Byron’s days of piloting
Cosbolt fighters behind him, the detection of alien ruins sends him to the
planet of Tgren. Forced to train a Tgren named Athee and deal with an eager
young scientist, he feels invaded. Tensions mount as the ruins reveal a
potential weapon, plunging him further into the chaos. All Byron wanted was his
privacy…

CassaStorm - Commanding the base on
Tgren, Byron watches as a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the planet. When the
war hits Tgren, it triggers nightmares in his son. The ancient alien ship begins
transmitting a deadly code and the probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty
years ago returns. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the
middle…

About the author: Alex J. Cavanaugh has a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design, graphics, and technical
editing. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and
movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group. He’s the author of Amazon Best-Sellers
CassaStar, CassaFire, and CassaStorm.

Friday, June 19, 2015

1. One week until the release of Masked Kiss, the final book of the Dice & Debauchery series! It's available for pre-order everywhere right now. I'm excited that the whole series will be out. The trilogy is like the 13th Floor in that all the books link together and happen over the same space of time. It's fun to write and read the same scene from different points of view.

2. While next Friday will be a big day, I won't be around to promote it. I hope to do a tour in August for the series. Just not a three month tour this time! That was far too long and tiring. Two weeks seems to be the best time period for a tour.

3. I'll be taking a blogging break for the next three weeks. I do have some pre-scheduled posts during that time, so please stop by for a fabulous guest post about surviving a horror story by Cherie Reich on Wednesday and some tidbits about Masked Kiss next Friday.

4. I've gotten a little writing done this week. My WIP is still moving slow. It's at 15k and there's only one dead body! I've written a lot of novellas in the past few years, so this pace feels odd, and the story is challenging me. But that's a good thing.

Monday, June 15, 2015

We're searching for brave heroes to help host events, plan and promote, donate prizes, or be a participant. Shine your armor and be a knight in the joust! Thou must click here and fill out the simple form. We thank you greatly for any aid you can offer.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Joe
embraces his duty without fear or hesitation, always ready for the
next battle. But the path has never been easy. With Michael’s
return, they uncover a truth more dangerous than they ever imagined.
Their enemy plans to unleash the devil himself, Lucifer. Help comes
in the form of an unlikely alley: a member of the fallen.

Mariangela
is trying to make amends by protecting the child she is carrying.
After blindly following Lucifer in the rebellion, her misguided
allegiance came with a price: banishment from heaven. Now, as she
strives for forgiveness in the human world, she must fight to prevent
Uriel, a fallen archangel, from using her child to free evil from
Hell.

The
path is a battleground, but have Joe & his brothers already lost?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WYJ3J08
#PathOfAngels
#NA #urbanfantasy

About
the Author:

Patricia
Josephine never set out to become a writer. In fact, she never
considered it an option during high school and college. She was all
about art. On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head.
That was the start of it and she hasn't regretted a moment. She
writes young adult under the name Patricia Lynne.

Patricia
lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will
resemble a small petting zoo, has a fondness for dying her hair the
colors of the rainbow, and an obsession with Doctor Who.

Honestly,
fallen angels get a bad rep. They are easy bad guys. They did fall
from grace after all, so it’s easy to make them embrace evil. I
found it easy to write my fallen angels as bad guys.

Then
there’s Mariangela.

A
lone fallen angel trying to make things right. Her name is Italian
and means bitter angel. Although, she isn’t really bitter and I
can’t remember why, when I was writing the first draft, I chose it.
That’s actually something she put behind herself. She had to
forgive herself for what she did. Once she did that, she became the
person you meet in the story. She’s kind and gentle, but
determined. I think she is a strong woman. She’s not a fighter, but
she will stand up and do what she believes is right.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Coffee shop owner Maggie Maguire doesn’t trust the new
police chief her father hired to protect Maguire’s Corner. He’s a
stranger, cold, bossy and annoyingly handsome. But, Maggie’s witnessed a
serious crime and now someone’s trying to kill her. The man that
aggravates her most might be the only one that can help her.Police Chief Jack Munro likes his new job and his new town, and
unfortunately he also likes the stubborn but beautiful town sweetheart.
His self-imposed hands-off Maggie policy is about to be put to the
ultimate test when he must keep her close to protect her while he tracks
down a ruthless killer.Determined to ignore Jack’s charms, Maggie attempts to help him unravel
the mystery but when their lives hang in the balance she must decide how
much she’s willing to risk to save the man she suddenly can’t resist.

Friday, June 5, 2015

1. I received some great reviews for my newest release, Layers of Lace (Dice & Debauchery #2). The first book in the series, Loose Corset, won a position in the top five of the Easychair Competition for novellas. Yay! It was a good week for geeky romances.

2. I haven't had much of a chance to do any writing this week. It's a little frustrating, but I know this is how summer is going to go. A little writing here and there until August. Time is already flying by!

3. I've been reading non-fiction this week. I love Mary Roach! She fills my need for odd tidbits of information.

4. Don't forget to head over to T.B. Markinson's blog and enter to win five awesome books plus an Amazon gift card. My urban fantasy, Of Blood and Sorrow is included in the giveaway.

5. I'm over at the Untethered Realms blog today with a review for Nick Wilford's new book. If you haven't checked it out yet, do it. Plus he's holding a giveaway too, and there's still a bit of time left to enter to win his awesome collection!

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Some
cats need nine lives to make a difference. Avalon only needed one.

From
Amazon bestselling author Vanessa Morgan, Avalon is the heartwarming
and once-in-a-lifetime love story of a girl and her neurotic Turkish
Van cat.

With
humor, the author details how Avalon made other creatures cringe in
distress whenever he was around, how he threw her dates out by means
of special techniques, and how he rendered it almost impossible for
her to leave the house. Avalon was so incorrigible that even her
landlord ordered her to get rid of him. But beneath Avalon's demonic
boisterousness, Vanessa recognized her own flaws and insecurities,
and she understood that abandoning Avalon would be the worst she
could do to him. Thanks to her unswerving loyalty, Avalon transformed
into a tender feline, and even landed a major role in a horror movie.
In turn, Avalon made it his mission to be there for his human
companion.

By
turns jubilant and deeply moving, Avalon is a memoir for anyone who
has ever been obsessively in love with a pet.

Small
changes often caused major disturbances. When we removed a DVD from
the cupboard, or put a pen on the living room table that he wasn’t
used to seeing there, Avalon pitched himself near the problem area
and vocalized his complaints as if he was a muezzin calling to
prayer. He only stopped if the space returned back to normal.

Intelligent
and calculating as he was, Avalon had also developed a technique to
prevent Ballon and Tigris from using his
litter boxes. Each time he heard the scratch scratch scratch in the
litter, he settled into attack mode behind the bathroom wall, wiggled
his behind, and leapt onto the other cat as soon as it emerged,
making it jump. It worked every... single...
time. Proud, Avalon walked away from the crime scene with his nose
pointing airwards.

Borat,
our guinea pig, was initially the best one off, but ended up the most
miserable. What kept him safe at first was Avalon’s fear of
rodents. Cats may be considered deadly predators, killing a median of
2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year in the United
States alone, but whenever Borat had free range inside the apartment,
Avalon went in a large circle around him, avoiding him at all cost.

Eventually,
Avalon ferreted out a way to make Borat twinge in distress whenever
he approached. It
started
when I taught Avalon not to throw up on the bed and carpets. Those
lessons must have been meaningful, because Avalon didn’t
vomit
in those places anymore.
Instead he
aimed for the guinea pig's head. As soon as he felt a hairball
mounting, Avalon ran as fast as he could toward Borat's cage, leaned
in, and puked his heart out.

Author
bio

Vanessa
Morgan is an author, screenwriter, and blogger. Two of her works, The
Strangers Outside
and A
Good Man,
have been turned into films. Her short film script Next
to Her
is currently in pre-production. When she's
not working on her latest book, you can find her reading, watching
horror movies, digging through flea markets, or photographing felines
for her blog Traveling
Cats
(http://travelling-cats.blogspot.com).
Avalon has appeared in several of her books and films.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

I received my first quarterly check from my publisher a few weeks ago. I held the envelope in my hands and did a happy jig. Then, like Wolverine, I tore it open and froze.

No, no. That can't be right. I had a dream. My dream told me I'd earn $4700. My subconscious clearly does not know where to place decimal points. I didn't even make triple digits.

The weight of the let-down flopped me into a chair. I could barely breathe. That lasted ten seconds until the panic of wondering whether taking the risk with this series was worth it had me madly pacing the room. This isn't my usual genre. Did I ruin myself by publishing these stories? Do readers think I'm crazy? Why oh why didn't I use a pen name?

ACK!

All that self doubt and anxiety crashed down on me. There wasn't enough ice cream in the world to help this one. Time to hide in a hole. Please ignore this silly geek over here.

Now that I've had some time to let things settle down, I'm okay with the fact I did take the risk. Even if I don't sell well, I've learned a lot from this experience. And I still do believe that the stories are great fun.

We all need to hide in a hole with a barrel bucket of ice cream now and then. The real challenge is to come out and keep pushing forward. Take risks and never give up.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Every month, the wonderful T.B. Markinson is hosting an ebook giveaway. This month there are five spectacular books that you can win. I've read them all, and any one of them is worth entering this giveaway.

And while you're at T.B.'s blog entering the giveaway, be sure to pick up her books. Here's my review of the latest book in her Woman Lost series to tease you with.

Blurb:Historian Lizzie Petrie
remains nothing more than a lesbian in her bitter mother’s eyes. The
suppressed hurt of that superficial assessment means she still catches
herself off guard when thinking of Sarah as her wife. The couple has
endured the fallout of Lizzie’s insecurities and set-up house in Fort
Collins, Colorado. Now their relationship is about to be tested again.

When
her wife announces she wants to have a baby, Lizzie panics. A baby? The
thought of sucking an egg from her ovary and implanting the resulting
embryo into Sarah’s womb terrifies her. Lizzie constantly worries if
she’ll make a good mother.

Just when she starts to make peace
with the idea, Lizzie’s estranged family enters her life again. The news
is anything but good, and she finds herself wondering how to make
amends with her aloof mother, stranger of a father, and self-centered
brother.

Deep down, Lizzie is more loving and caring than she
ever gives herself credit. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to open a
woman’s eyes to her full potential. But at what price?

My review:Lizzie
Petrie has survived one big fallout in her relationship and now she's
about to be tested again. Her wife Sarah surprises her with the
announcement that she wants to have a baby. Lizzie's baby. If that
doesn't shake up Lizzie's world enough, her haughty mother is diagnosed
with cancer. With a baby in her future, she wants to make some peace
with her estranged family. Yet will the effort destroy her further?

This
is the sequel to A Woman Lost, a contemporary romance that amazed me
with its fantastic characterization and dramatic plot. A Woman Ignored
is just as well written and ups the intensity of the story. Lizzie's
narrative is compelling, unusual, and quirky. She's a woman who sees
things differently than others and brings forth questions others might
not think about. You see a lot more of her heart in this book, and you
can understand why Sarah loves her so. Their relationship may be bumpy
at times, but it's drawn with the vivid colors of reality. It's quite
sweet - and steamy! - at times. Sarah, Maddie, and Ethan are great
complements, and I love the addition of Doug to their group. Just as
fascinating was getting to see the dynamics of the Petrie family in the
midst of a crisis.

Click, Read, Enjoy.

About Me

I'm a writer, blogger, and geek mom. I write paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I love a dark and gritty story. I have four degrees which don't help at all with motherhood, but make me a great Jeopardy player. Member of S.C.I.F.I. and Untethered Realms.